Minor game stuff from around the web for commentary...

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:57 am

Onyx Path released their take on the True Black Hand. Woooo.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:27 am

Longes wrote:Onyx Path released their take on the True Black Hand. Woooo.

I don't know what that is supposed to be. It ignores the original Dirty Secrets book. It declares that the spirit nuke didn't happen. It's like a Marvel What If comic, existing in a space where it is non-canon to all versions and game lines. What's the fucking point?

-Username17

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:05 am

FrankTrollman wrote:
Longes wrote:Onyx Path released their take on the True Black Hand. Woooo.
I don't know what that is supposed to be. It ignores the original Dirty Secrets book. It declares that the spirit nuke didn't happen. It's like a Marvel What If comic, existing in a space where it is non-canon to all versions and game lines. What's the fucking point?

-Username17

That's what everything is like in V20. Gehenna is still looming on the horizon (though with 1999 having gone by it's in a weird limbo where it's not tied to anything meaningful). Everything is like in nWoD - modular and replaceable, no part of the setting really "exists" for all tables.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:06 am

Ian Watson wrote:Our current model goes as follows: We release an “advance PDF.” Our fans report any errors they find. We collect these and update our files. From these files we create a final release PDF and the printer files. We request a proof to ensure the book looks as it should. If everything’s okay, the final PDF is uploaded and the PoD option enabled. The entire process takes typically takes between two to six weeks.

Outsourcing editing to the buyers. Ian Watson is a genius of cutting corners.

Mord · Post by **Mord** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 1:44 pm

In light of the fact that New White Wolf has staked their claim to produce the official 4th Editions of the World of Darkness games, I wonder when Onyx Path will be forced to stop churning out 20th Anniversary garbage for WoD. Probably when the run-up to VtM4 begins in earnest.

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:00 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:It ignores the original Dirty Secrets book. It declares that the spirit nuke didn't happen.

So basically they're retconning the WHOLE WEEK OF NIGHTMARES away, and with it....

...the Sixt Great Maesltrom never happened, Wraith NEVER WENT OUT OF PRINT.
...the Kuei'Jin never brought the Great Maesltrom to Bangladesh, the Technocracy never had to make a grand display of power with 3 Umbral Nukes and a kilsat, the traditions never surrendered, and there was never an Avatar Storm. Mage: Revised NEVER HAPPPENED.
...the Technocracy didn't lose its whole army in Bangladesh, Control is still in charge and has the conventions on a tight leash, which disqualifies technocrats as playable characters, the Technocracy books NEVER HAPPENED.
...Ravanah never woke up, Ravnos never went extinct.
...Tremere never escaped his body and the antitribu still exist.
...the Messengers never panicked and started empowering mortals, Hunter: The Reckoning NEVER HAPPENED.

Did I miss anything?

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:33 pm

...In V20 Tremere got booted into Goratrix immediately after diablerizing Saulot, which is a shame because Goratrix was ten times more interesting than Tremere. Also Tremere still can't have nice things in the narrative.
...M20 is written by different people. Avatar Storm happened, as did Mage Revised. OR DID THEY?! M20 is totally metaplot independent except when it isn't, and remains in the state of quantum flux where they don't have to commit to anything.
...The Void Engineers are secretly fighting Threat Null, aka the Control. Control fell to the nefandi and are now totally evil.
...Week of Nightmares never happened, except when it did. See previous point about quantum setting.

Ferret · Post by **Ferret** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 2:54 pm

Mord wrote:In light of the fact that New White Wolf has staked their claim to produce the official 4th Editions of the World of Darkness games, I wonder when Onyx Path will be forced to stop churning out 20th Anniversary garbage for WoD. Probably when the run-up to VtM4 begins in earnest.

Thus far, the plan appears to be the following:

Onyx Path no longer gets to use the specific "World of Darkness" trademark name. Their games are now all under the heading Chronicles of Darkness, and thus far appear to be allowed to continue even after NWW starts outputting new World of Darkness content, be it vidjagames or tabletop stuff.

We'll see what happens to the above once NWW is -actually- getting ready to sell their new stuff.

Mord · Post by **Mord** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:08 am

Ferret wrote:Thus far, the plan appears to be the following:

Onyx Path no longer gets to use the specific "World of Darkness" trademark name. Their games are now all under the heading Chronicles of Darkness, and thus far appear to be allowed to continue even after NWW starts outputting new World of Darkness content, be it vidjagames or tabletop stuff.

We'll see what happens to the above once NWW is -actually- getting ready to sell their new stuff.

Right, the abomination formerly known as "New World of Darkness" is now relegated to the off-brand name "Chronicles of Darkness" so the New White Wolf can get busy pretending that NWoD never happened.

However, at present, Onyx Path is still doing a brisk trade in "20th Anniversary" shovelware for the real World of Darkness game lines and appears to still have the license to sell .pdfs and PoD copies of the original White Wolf's products.

I'm thinking this will change reeeeeeal fast once New White Wolf starts spinning up the publicity mill for the official 4th Editions of Vampire, Werewolf, etc. I'm just wondering when the other shoe will drop. I just hope that Onyx Path's contract lets the rights holder pull the license without having to pay Rich Thomas a dime.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:06 pm

Longes wrote:Onyx Path released their take on the True Black Hand. Woooo.

Oh, by the way. Soul Eaters are back, baby.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:09 pm

This book is weird as fuck. The True Black Hand is now centered around the Old Clan Tzimisce and Baali. And Tzimisce are teaching Baali how to be demon hunters. I don't even know. Only Baali don't get any special anti-demon powers, those are in Koldunic Sorcery. For some reason.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:34 am

https://imagonem.org/2016/02/15/white-w ... e-in-2016/

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:22 am

Longes wrote:https://imagonem.org/2016/02/15/white-w ... e-in-2016/

That is the interview we linked back in February.

-Username17

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:52 am

So in various fantasy stories (and vidyagames) the giant monster brawling with the PC's in a castle can cause the floor to collapse into a basement, a pillar to get knocked over so the roof starts crumbling, a hole smashed in the wall so an escape route is opened, etc.

The easiest way would be to script such an event, but there any game systems that implement it in a smooth way?

I could see a modified 'fumble' system where 'fumbling' your roll causes an environmental effect like "the thief dodges the golem's wild swing easily, the golem smacks the wall, revealing a way out!"

Schleiermacher · Post by **Schleiermacher** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:08 am

You can do it in FATE the same way you can do anything in FATE: Create An Advantage and introduce a scene aspect that reflects a change in the environment or the creation of a hazard.

That's not a very satisfying solution, but if you want to implement this in a more granular system in a way that doesn't invoke the GM (which would fall under "scripting" as I read you, i.e the GM decides this should happen) -especially as an accidental consequence of failed attacks- it would be a nightmare to implement in any kind of smooth way.

However, if you have good rules for large and/or strong creatures attacking and destroying objects, this can be "scripted" quite easily and unobtrusively, and allows players to do the same thing when it would make sense- which I actually think works fine.

shlominus · Post by **shlominus** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:51 pm

ffg star wars' combat system offers exactly what you describe.

here's the example from the rulebook, for when you roll really badly on an attack (3 net threat or despair):

"the active character grants the enemy a significant advantage in the ongoing encounter, such as accidentally blasting the controls to a bridge he was planning to use for his escape."

your idea would fit that catagory well. it's just a single roll, so it won't get much smoother than that.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 5:44 pm

Cosmic Bumfights is Kickstarting a new edition. Since I am a fool with money, I backed it and now have the playtest materials; it seems to be a decent low urban fantasy system despite itself. Still an organizational hate crime, though.

Anyone interested in a drunk preview?

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 7:06 pm

Sure, I'd like to see how they replaced the entirety of everything. The UA2e was firmly planted in the 80s-90s USA, and was nigh on impossible to move anywhere from there.

Blicero · Post by **Blicero** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:44 am

For a moment, I got really excited at the idea of an RPG called Cosmic Bumfights existing. And then I remembered it was just Unknown Armies.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 7:57 am

Incredible. Today, on April 22nd of the year 2016 I saw a homebrew system with gender attribute modifiers. Seriously, what the fuck?

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:04 am

Longes wrote:Incredible. Today, on April 22nd of the year 2016 I saw a homebrew system with gender attribute modifiers. Seriously, what the fuck?

I had a quick look.

I like how those modifiers seem to appear inexplicably in a column in a table in which all other content only has tangential relation to said modifiers.

Maybe they're hiding.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 11:00 am

There is a certain "Je ne sais quoi" about those modifiers. Oh wait, I know what it is - it's stupid and backward. Considering the 'social' attributes does anyone want to review the mechanics or is it just a want fest where the wanker wants to know how pleasant his imaginary lay's voice is?

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 11:40 am

deaddmwalking wrote:There is a certain "Je ne sais quoi" about those modifiers. Oh wait, I know what it is - it's stupid and backward. Considering the 'social' attributes does anyone want to review the mechanics or is it just a want fest where the wanker wants to know how pleasant his imaginary lay's voice is?

I just saw a posting on Roll20 of a guy gathering players for his homebrew system, and decided to have a look.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:09 am

I was looking over the Pure Steam campaign setting. It looked interesting and has some neat stuff, but then it got to the map of the game area... it is clearly North America and the orcs an goblins are native mericans. Like, seriously...

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 4:42 am

Longes wrote:Incredible. Today, on April 22nd of the year 2016 I saw a homebrew system with gender attribute modifiers. Seriously, what the fuck?

I remember that name, someone was advertising a system called Orbis Terrarum at Worldcon 2014. With a dead-tree book and art and everything.

Was still pretty badly TL;DR and indeed I put it down in disgust on seeing gender based modifiers.